Chicken drinking fountain



April 29, 1952 J. D. MILLER 2,594,968

CHICKEN DRINKING FOUNTAIN Filed July 1, 1949 Fly. 1.

IN V EN TOR.

Patented Apr. 29, 1952 CHICKEN DRINKING FOUNTAIN Julian Daniel Miller, Denton, Md., assignor to himself and Helen Peers Miller, Denton, Md., as joint tenants with right of survivorship Application July 1, 1949, Serial No. 102,481

1 Claim. 1

The invention relates to improvements in chicken drinking fountains in which balanced and weighted water valves are mounted, pointing obliquely downward, on both sides of a water pipe, and inverted V screening is placed over the drain trough beneath the water pipe, and the drain pipe in the trough has a metal cover over the top with small V openings on two sides at the bottom of the trough; and the objects of the improvements are, first, the balanced and weighted water valves permit the mounting of two rows, thereby providing drinking facilities for twice as many chickens on the same length of fountain; second, chickens of all ages can drink from the fountain, since the valves being set on the sides of the pipe, and the height of both the pipe and the drain trough being adjustable, permit suflicient lowering of the fountain, so that one day old chicks can reach the water valves; third, the inverted V screening minimizes the amount of foreign matter entering the drain trough, and the cover over the drain pipe with V openings on the bottom prevents the clogging of the drainage.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which, Figure 1 is a side view of the complete fountain, parts broken away, since the fountain may be made in various lengths in accordance with the number of chickens to be accommodated; Figure 2, a vertical section on the line 2-2; Figure 3, a section through the balanced water valve on the line 3-3; Figure 4, a detail of the spring hanger for supporting the drain trough and holding the V screening in place; Figure 5, a plan view of the cover over the drain pipe; Figure 6, a section on the line 6-6 of Figure 5, showing the spring that holds the cover in place over the drain pipe; Figure 7, a section on line l'l of Figure 5, showing the V openings on the bottom of the cover over the drain pipe.

The fountain is connected to the water supply at l. A float valve in the tank 2 controls the water level in the tank and supplies water at atmospheric pressure through screened holes 3 in the pipe 4, to the water valves 5, which are mounted to the pipe 4 at spaced intervals on both sides.

The valve 5 consists of a threaded body 5A, a valve stem 6, and a cylindrical weighted portion 63. The weighted portion 6B has a seat 6C which mates and cooperates with the opening 513 of the body 5A. The lower portion of the valve stem has a neck or reduced section 6D and terminates with a rounded end 6E.

When the chickens peck at the water valve stem 6, the stem opens the valve 5, permitting the water to drip. The valve stem 6 is so balanced that it will close the valve as soon as the chicken releases it, and it works perfectly when mounted to the water pipe at obliquely downward angle. As illustrated in Figure 3, the seat of the valve stem 6 is just inside the opening of the valve 5, and is so constructed that there is always water inside of the valve 5, including around 6B portion of the valve stem. The fact that the interior of the valve is always full of water is a great asset in areas where there is mineral or clay deposit in the water supply, since it prevents such substances from drying and caking on the insides of the valve.

The drain trough 1, covered with the inverted V screening 8, is suspended from the water pipe 4 by spring hangers 9 which fit into holes in the sides of the trough and hold the V screening in place. The metal cover Ill, over the drain pipe [2, with the V openings at the bottom as illustrated in Figures 5 and '7, prevents the clogging of the drain pipe. The wire loop spring H, as illustrated in Figure 6, it attached to the inside of the metal cover 10 with the wire loop extending from the bottom of the cover on the outside. The loop part of the wire loop spring is placed in the drain pipe opening in the drain trough l, and serves to hold the cover [0 tightly in place, since the width of the loop is slightly more than the width of the interior circumference of the drain pipe and its entrance into the drain pipe is effected only by the compression which its spring action permits.

As illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, the water pipe 4 is suspended from between uprights at the apex of the triangular supports l3 and ISA by the hangers l4 and 3A, which are held in place by the cotter pins 15 and 15A through holes in the supports [3 and HA and the hangers M and MA. Holes at intervals in the hangers Ill and [4A permit the fountain to be raised or lowered in accordance with the size of the chickens to be watered. The wire I 6, over the pipe 4 prevents the chickens from roosting on the pipe.

I am aware that prior to my invention, chicken drinking fountains have been made with one row of vertical valves to the fountain, and with horizontal screening over drain trough. I therefore do not claim such a combination.

I claim:

The combination of a chicken drinking fountain including weighted water valves set on opposite sides of a water pipe, said water valves bea rounded end.

JULIAN DANIEL MILLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Chesnutt Dec. 10, 1929 Ward Mar. 31, 1931 Bartlett Mar. 24, 1936 

